© 2024 WNMU-FM
Upper Great Lakes News, Music, and Arts & Culture
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Gerrymandering lawsuit appealed to the Supreme Court

LANSING, MI (MPRN)--   Republican lawmakers have filed an appeal to the United State Supreme Court in a lawsuit that accuses them of unconstitutional gerrymandering. 

Last week a federal court said that the Legislature and governor must agree on new political district lines for Congressional and state elections by August.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey (SHUR’-key) says he’s in the initial stages of carrying out the order.

“We will proceed to follow the ruling that the District Court issued last week. That’s going to take us weeks to put together and we’ll wait to see what happens with the Supreme Court.”

The current district lines were drawn by a Republican majority Legislature and approved by a Republican governor. The court said those boundaries unfairly favor Republican candidates.

Before becoming the newest Capitol reporter for the Michigan Public Radio Network, Cheyna Roth was an attorney. She spent her days fighting it out in court as an assistant prosecuting attorney for Ionia County. Eventually, Cheyna took her investigative and interview skills and moved on to journalism. She got her masters at Michigan State University and was a documentary filmmaker, podcaster, and freelance writer before finding her home with NPR. Very soon after joining MPRN, Cheyna started covering the 2016 presidential election, chasing after Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and all their surrogates as they duked it out for Michigan. Cheyna also focuses on the Legislature and criminal justice issues for MPRN. Cheyna is obsessively curious, a passionate storyteller, and an occasional backpacker. Follow her on Twitter at @Cheyna_R